A technique known in the art involves positioning a ferrule, which holds an end section of an optical fiber, with respect to a receptacle, which is provided on a substrate, by means of positioning sections (a positioning pin and a positioning hole), and thereby optically connecting the optical fiber and a photoelectric conversion element provided on the substrate. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique in which a ferrule (reference number 20 in Patent Literature 1) and a receptacle (reference number 80 in Patent Literature 1) provided on a substrate are positioned with respect to one another to optically connect an optical fiber and a photoelectric conversion element provided on the substrate.
In Patent Literature 1, the ferrule is fixed by fixing a fixing member (reference number 60 in Patent Literature 1) which houses the ferrule to the receptacle. Thus, to remove the ferrule from the receptacle, it is necessary to disengage the fixing member from the receptacle. If, however, there are other members (e.g. elements mounted on the substrate) around the receptacle, it may be difficult to release the engaged state by outwardly spreading the fixing member's engagement section which is in engagement with the receptacle. On the other hand, providing a space around the receptacle to facilitate releasing the engaged state will prevent elements from being laid out on the substrate at high densities.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a removal tool that can easily release an engaged state of an optical connector in a small space.